Penne with Turkey Bolognese

So, this past weekend was closing weekend.  Saturday Jess and I went up to visit one of our hall staff's to drop off some stuff and they were eating spaghetti.  Man oh man it smelled GOOD.  So I decided to make some.  However, I HATE HATE HATE jar spaghetti sauce and will only eat it if I can make the sauce from scratch.  It's a lot easier than you think, and I wanted to health it up.  So I decided to make the healthiest sauce I know -- a Bolognese (bal-lon-nyaeys) sauce.

But Steph, why is it so healthy you ask?  Because it has a LOT of veggies in it, low sodiumish, and is very tasty!!

Ingredients:  Extra-virgin olive oil, pancetta, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, ground turkey, crushed tomatoes, Italian parsley, basil, parm/romano, and penne pasta.

Start by chopping your pancetta, onion, and garlic.  (You can substitute two - three strips of bacon for the pancetta.  It brings a smokey flavor to the sauce and bacon would be an OK substitute)

In a large pan, heat the pan and add the oil.  Just before it begins smoking add the pancetta and cook it on medium-high until the fat begins to render (5 - 8 minutes depending on how thick it's cut.  I used the shaved variety so I only cooked it about 3 - 4 minutes.  .

Then add the onion.  I used a whole medium sized onion.

Add 2 garlic cloves.  Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until the onions become very soft -- about 8 minutes.

While the onion/garlic is sauteing, chop 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk.  I had some matchstick carrots left over from the chicken salad, so I used those and just chopped them a bit and diced the celery.

Add the carrot and celery and saute for 5 minutes.

 Raise the heat to Medium-high and add the ground turkey.  Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps.  Cook until the meat is no longer pink.

Since I used turkey instead of beef I added a bit of Worcestershire powder to add a bit of a beefy flavor.

 While the turkey is cooking, you'll want to chiffonade the basil and parsley.  That's just a fancy way of say coarsely chop, but is sounds fancy and I like it.  The easiest way to do it is to pile the parsley up, roll it up, and then chop it.  Do the same with the Basil. 

When the turkey is cooked -- salt and pepper the veggies/turkey.  Not a lot, but it helps to salt it before adding the sauce because you can see it easier --at least I think so.  Then add a 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes, and the basil and parsley. 

Stir it all together, reduce the heat to low and cook until the sauce thickens -- about a half hour. 

Trust me -- make it from scratch IT'S WORTH IT!! You'll never eat jar sauce again.  you can make a lot and freeze it and pull it out as you need it. 

While that is cooking, put on your pot of water for your pasta.  I always use a HUGE pan -- my biggest one.  So that the pasta can move around freely.   You know how to make pasta.

I use whole wheat penne. I love Penne Rigate because it's easy to eat.  Spaghetti noodles are messy and make you look silly while you try to eat so I almost always use penne instead.  Plus with a bolognese, the meat and veggies settle inside the penne and it's amazing. 

Your sauce will thicken and look like this.

Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Parmesan.  I really like Trader Joe's grated parm. It has a stronger flavor than the Kraft grated parm.  Mix it in and let it cook about three minutes longer to meld the flavors.  Remove from heat and let it sit while you finish cooking your pasta. 

Drain the pasta and then put it back in the pan, add the bolognese, and cook it for a tiny bit longer all mixed together.  It melds the flavors and lets the sauce coat and get up all in the penne's business.  YUMMM!!

I served it with these little garlic/Parmesan puff pastry things I got from Trader Joe's.  They were AMAZING!! 

We also had salad with the pasta. 

Was a delicious meal!!  

Seriously, though, make your pasta sauce from scratch.  It's SOOO Much better.  It's pretty easy as well.. you can make a pretty simple sauce with just onion, garlic, basil, and crushed tomatoes.  It just gets fancier from there.  It is fresh and yummy and tons TONS better for you than the sodium they add to the jar sauces so that they don't spoil.  

Plus -- canned tomatoes are awesome.  They come low to no salt added and are often canned at the peak tomato season so they are delicious!!

OK that's all -- see you soon!!